Skilled credentials help workers signal knowledge, skills, and experience in a particular field. They can also be a valuable tool for employers making the shift to skills-first hiring (also referred to as skills-based hiring) by giving hiring decision makers the confidence to look beyond bachelor’s degrees and hire STARs, workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes.

According to the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM), skilled credentials, “take a relatively short time to complete, are focused on specific skills, can be earned consecutively (‘stacked’), are verifiable, are often aligned to industries and can frequently be delivered digitally.”

Skilled credentials are often associated with the tech sector, but are also common in data analytics, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, sales, administrative support, and more. They may be especially helpful in emerging fields where knowledge evolves rapidly and other learning pathways do not reflect the skills employers need.